Tam High's mold headache gets worse

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Tam High's mold headache gets worse

Gollan

http://www.marinij.com/marin/ci_2952268

Thursday

Aug 18, 2005

San ,CA

Trickling water from the Mill Valley hills behind Tamalpais High

School most likely spawned mold concentrations up to four times the

federally recommended limits in its largest classroom building,

officials said yesterday.

The discovery has prompted Tam administrators to postpone the start

of school until Monday - three days later than planned.

" There is moisture under the building, " said V-Anne Chernock,

director of facilities modernization for the Tamalpais Union High

School District. " There are underground springs from the hills that

abut the campus, that gets into the building. "

Keyser Hall, composed of 18 rooms, 12 of which serve as classrooms

for some 400 students at any one time, was shut indefinitely

yesterday. A musty odor that had persisted for the last several

years intensified this month after the building was shut over the

summer, prompting the district to order a round of tests for mold on

Sunday, Chernock said.

The results, announced yesterday, showed several types of mold in

the building that exceeded acceptable levels recommended by the U.S.

Environmental Protection Agency. There are no regulatory

requirements or guidelines for acceptable mold levels. But the U.S.

Environmental Protection Agency recommends that indoor mold

concentrations be at or below those taken from outside the building

under evaluation.

Four outdoor air samples collected Sunday ranged from 1,787 to 8,625

spores per cubic meter. Those numbers were used as the yardstick

against which indoor air samples were compared.

Indoor air samples collected Sunday from Keyser Hall included the

following:

- 13,210 spores per cubic meter from an English classroom

- 7,660 spores per cubic meter from a hallway

- Four samples from two areas beneath the floors of the building,

called " crawl spaces, " ranged from 13,856 to 49,399 spores per cubic

meter.

The samples included several types of molds, but of most concern was

the prevalence of Penicillium/Aspergillus, which is correlated with

colds, respiratory ailments and asthma, said Mitch , senior

industrial hygienist at Sensible Environmental Solutions, Inc., an

environmental consulting company based in ez, which is

overseeing the testing and provided the test results to the

Independent Journal.

People with allergies, asthma, or other long-term respiratory

conditions are more likely to experience watery and itchy eyes,

coughing, nasal or sinus congestion or headaches as a result of mold

or building dampness, said Lea , a spokeswoman for the

California Department of Health Services. The longer someone is

exposed to mold, the more likely they are to develop such symptoms.

" From a health point of view, we thought it would be advisable not

to reoccupy the building, " said. " This is kind of a unique

situation because you are dealing more with the drainage issue. "

said he had seen similar mold concentrations to those found

in Keyser Hall, but in residential homes, not in schools.

" The concentrations identified in the crawl spaces are considerably

high, " he said. " If I was to take a look at the one sample where it

is three to four times as high, there are some people that might

have an allergic reaction to this. "

In the last few weeks, 18 staff members, predominantly teachers

whose classrooms are in Keyser Hall, most likely have frequented the

building to prepare the school year, which was due to start today,

Holleran said.

Although no students or staff have complained of health problems

associated with the mold - before or since its detection, some have

noted the building's odor in the past, said Holleran,

principal of Tamalpais High School.

" The building has always had kind of a musty odor to it; it is hard

to determine based on a smell whether it could be any number of

sources - whether it is toxic or just irritating, " he said.

In 2002, the district removed Stachybotrys chartarum, a black mold,

from what was then the boys locker room, and is now a storage room.

The most recent tests showed none of the mold had reappeared in that

room, although it was detected in two other indoor areas,

said.

In the meantime, the district will move teachers and students into

other classrooms, Holleran said.

" We're not going to panic about it, " Holleran said. " If there had

been someone getting ill, we would have taken action to resolve it,

but we didn't have any indication that what was in the building was

causing any harm. "

will collect more samples next week from throughout the

building, which will determine the district's next steps. The

building could be closed indefinitely depending on the results of

next week's mold tests, expected by Aug. 26. The Marin County

Department of Health and Human Services is to help the district

develop their response.

The next round of tests will determine the extent of the mold

problem in Keyser, specifically the associated health concerns and

the cost of removing it. Tam officials said they would make a

recommendation this fall to the district's Board of Trustees, which

is expected to decide whether to replace the 26,000-square-foot

building, or simply clean up the mold.

Keyser is among several projects excluded from the district's $121

million facilities bond renovation list, which district officials

have said they would consider funding through other means, including

another bond measure.

" We've been talking for some time whether we should overhaul it or

replace it, " Chernock said of Keyser Hall. " This certainly puts new

data into our pockets for that discussion to continue. "

The board is scheduled to consider the projects and funding sources

in October.

In May, the district scrapped plans for Keyser's $6 million

overhaul - later revised to $9 million because of ballooning

construction costs - instead resorting to basic repairs. The

district spent $55,000 of the projected $97,000 in repairs this

summer before the building was shut yesterday, Chernock said.

" It was a good judgment call, because if we hadn't found anything we

would have had a good facility to go back into, " Chernock said. " I

think it was a thoughtful, planned business call, but we didn't go

overboard on it. "